DSM-IV-TR › Substance-related disorders › Sedative-, hypnotic-, or anxiolytic-related disorders › Sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic intoxication 

292.89 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Intoxication

Refer, in addition, to the text and criteria for Substance Intoxication (see p. 199). The essential feature of Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Intoxication is the presence of clinically significant maladaptive behavioral or psychological changes (e.g., inappropriate sexual or aggressive behavior, mood lability, impaired judgment, impaired social or occupational functioning) that develop during, or shortly after, use of a sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic substance (Criteria A and B). As with other brain depressants such as alcohol, these behaviors may be accompanied by slurred speech, an unsteady gait, nystagmus, memory or attentional problems, levels of incoordination that can interfere with driving abilities and with performing usual activities to the point of causing falls or automobile accidents, and stupor or coma (Criterion C). Memory impairment is a prominent feature of Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Intoxication and is most often characterized by an anterograde amnesia that resembles "alcoholic blackouts," which can be quite disturbing to the individual. The symptoms must not be due to a general medical condition and are not better accounted for by another mental disorder (Criterion D). Intoxication may occur in individuals who are receiving these substances by prescription, are borrowing the medication from friends or relatives, or are deliberately taking the substance to achieve intoxication.

Diagnostic criteria for 292.89 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Intoxication

1. Recent use of a sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic.
2. Clinically significant maladaptive behavioral or psychological changes (e.g., inappropriate sexual or aggressive behavior, mood lability, impaired judgment, impaired social or occupational functioning) that developed during, or shortly after, sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use.
3. One (or more) of the following signs, developing during, or shortly after, sedative, hypnotic, or anxiolytic use:
   1. slurred speech
   2. incoordination
   3. unsteady gait
   4. nystagmus
   5. impairment in attention or memory
   6. stupor or coma
4. The symptoms are not due to a general medical condition and are not better accounted for by another mental disorder.

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision^TM. Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association. All Rights Reserved.

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